An international Alzheimer?s charity has launched a global photography competition to find images which reflect a more positive side of life with dementia.
Picture Editors from Reuters, Time Magazine, The Times, CNN and BBC Online will judge the competition, which is running as part of a year long awareness campaign commemorating 100 years since the discovery of Alzheimer?s disease, a type of dementia which affects 24 million people worldwide.
Competition organiser, Alzheimer?s Disease International (ADI), is encouraging amateur and professional photographers to take images that break the traditional stereotype of how dementia is portrayed. It seeks to reflect the reality of living with dementia, respecting the dignity of people with dementia and focusing on the person behind the disease instead of the illness itself.
The competition is supported by 75 Alzheimer associations throughout the world, and the two winning photographers will have their images displayed at an exhibition at the ADI International Conference in Berlin in October. A selection of images will also be made into a calendar which will be available through the ADI website later in 2007.
Melanie Legg, Alzheimer?s Disease International?s Membership Development Officer, said: ?Dementia is a global health issue ? by 2040 numbers of people with the disease around the world are expected to rise to 81 million. Photography is an enormously powerful medium which has no language barriers, and so we hope this competition will unite both families and Alzheimer?s societies across the globe to promote a positive image and help raise awareness of this important issue.?
To enter the competition, contact your national Alzheimer association (www.alz.co.uk/help/associations). Alternatively contact ADI at info@alz.co.uk for more information. The deadline for submitting entries is 1st September 2006.